There’s so many rules to the human
condition, it’s a wonder we don’t all go crazy.

So, how did I end up in a mental
hospital? Yeah I’d like to know that
too. I’m not sure if it’s the rules of
life that brought me here, or the fact I couldn’t face them anymore.

Or maybe, it was because I was found
wandering around in my underwear reading Hemmingway one Winter night. The police found me three streets from my
house and my folks knew that the rules of The Community had gotten to me and it
was time to put me where all the others had been placed who couldn’t handle
life.

However, as I looked out the window of the
day room dressed in the white track pants and shirt they gave me, I still had
those rules screaming through my head… but at a much slower pace. It must have been something they put in the
water – or the pills they were feeding us – that slowed down the pace and
pounding and screaming torture the rules attacked our brains.

But I did find that we weren’t permitted
outside. Even on the lovely, sunny days,
we were kept indoors and away from the windows.
I don’t know why, but the staff kept us in the darkened cells of our rooms
until the late afternoon when we were allowed to wander the halls again… and I
never saw my family either.

Not until one day, I saw my brother in the
day room. He stood as I entered
smiling. Then, I realised it. Why they never let us outside. Why we were never allowed to see family. The Rules oozed out of his pores and screamed
into my ears. I could hear them all
without him even opening his mouth!

Don’t… don’t … stop it! Stop it!... stop…it!

“No! Don’t!
Stay there!” I back up against the wall as he stood, his smile faltering
on his face, replaced by tears as I looked at him with terror written all over
my body. I wished I could have hugged
him… let him close, but I couldn’t. He
was doused in The Rules of Life and I was trapped in this prison of not being
able to absorb them.

“Sis, please… it’s me.” Tears rolled down
his cheeks. He reached out a hand from
across the room. A gallant effort on his
part to connect; and he knew I wasn’t scared of him, I was scared of what I could
hear coming out of him, “You can hear them can’t you?”

“Yes.”

“The Rules of Life.” He said, “You hear them
all the time.”

I crumbled crying, “They scream at me.”

The next moment, he was by my side. His arm was around me, supporting me as I slid
down the wall, “I know.” He whispered, “I used to hear them too. I was in this prison too once. But there’s a way out.”

I almost couldn’t look at him, “Please tell
me… nobody will help me here.”

“Of course they won’t. They expect you to do this on your own.” He said,
“You have to accept them and face them head on.
During sunny days, do they lock you in your rooms?”

My eyes finally looked into his, “Yes.”

“The sun is the cure.” He smiled, “It helps
you get better.” Assisting me to my feet, he walked me to the lounge where he
had left a box on the table by the window where the sun had come out, “Come and
sit by me at the window… come and get better so you can see the family again.”

I let him walk me to the brightness of the
sunlight, holding my brother’s hand. He sat
down, patting the puke brown vinyl next to him, “Come on, sister.”

It was warm to touch as I sat down and let
the sun warm my skin through the window.
I was there a few moments when the staff noticed and they rushed to grab
me, but stopped, with one muttering, “Damn, we’ll have to let her go now.”

Another answered him, “Yep, she cured all
because of what she’s learned.” They picked up their clipboards and made their
notes about me and the Rules to Life, “First, though, we have to instill her
with her rules again… as her living without rules to life isn’t good for her.”

My brother rose from the seat, leaving me
there as the sun’s light filled my vision.
I felt its warmth fill my vision completely, and then I took a deep
breath.

“First thing’s first, after we’ve replaced
everything vital to her being human, we’ll take her back to Earth.”

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About Me

I'm a writer.
I'm a reader.
I'm a collector of books and other things as well.
People say I'm interesting, but I think I'm just an average person looking out into a strange old world with my own ideas of what's going on.
There's other blogs I manage as well... go and have a look and see them if you dare.

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